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It’s the nation with many names –
early Portuguese explorers called it Formosa, or “Beautiful Island”.When you arrive the stamp in your passport
says Republic of China. Their cyclists compete at the Olympics under the banner
of Chinese Taipei.We call it Taiwan,
but for many years this quixotic country has been known as The Bicycle Kingdom.I was
recently invited to visit, and to check out the two-wheeled Taiwanese culture.

The Bicycle Kingdom label makes
sense; some of the world’s biggest bicycle manufacturing companies call Taiwan
home.At some stage in your cycling life
it’s almost guaranteed you’ve sat astride a frame bearing the “Made in Taiwan”
stamp.But the accusation that the
people of Taiwan make bicycles but
never ride them clearly smarts;
throughout my travels across the island I met people – from top industry
executives to children learning to ride – with an infectious passion for
cycling.

The country’s capital, Taipei, is
a tangle of towers, rivers and elevated highways.Double – and sometimes triple – deck
expressways have helped to induce massive car ownership rates in recent years,
creating congestion and air pollution problems to rival any other major Asian
city.But down at street level I still
found drivers to be courteous and patient if you’re used to riding with more
aggressive Western urban traffic, though getting along with Taipei’s many millions
of motor scooter users is a unique challenge in itself.

But there are plenty of cyclists
here getting on with business - whether it’s a pack of club riders heading out
of town for the hills, or an old man selling fruit from the back of his ancient
tricycle.The city’s distinctive orange
public hire bikes can be seen darting between the tower blocks of upscale
Taipei.Run at a loss by Taiwanese
manufacturing behemoth Giant to help
encourage cycling culture in the capital, the sturdy and comfortable “YouBike”
cycles are especially popular with the cool kids and bright young things of the
city who can be seen on Saturday nights meeting, flirting and having fun riding
around the ultra modern Xinyi district.The scheme was launched in 2009 with just 500 bikes but has rapidly
expanded to include 1,500 bikes today.Keeping up with growing demand, Giant have just signed a long term
contract with the Taipei city council to expand the scheme to nearly 6,000
bikes across the region by 2014.

In downtown Taipei, charming and
erudite Chang Sheng-Kai is opening his glittering bike shop, CSK Bicycles, for
the morning.Trophies and photos of
local kids training to become the next Taiwanese champions proudly frame the
shop window.A cast of unlikely looking
bike frames sparkle in the early sun, drawing looks from passing workers
scurrying past to their offices, dreaming of the weekend.Here’s a frame cast to look like solid gold,
and here’s another covered in a print of bright red strawberries.Fancy a pair of diamante-encrusted rims? CSK
is your man. His enthusiasm for all
things cycling is entirely contagious.

“On my busiest days I might build
up 50 bikes myself, but it’s not all about hard work.I ride with my wife and children for fun,
too.On Saturday we took a tour to the
south and rode 120kms together.”

I’m impressed when he tells me
his youngest child is just 12 years old and already covering such distances,
but the adventurous cycling streak would appear to run deep in the family.As we’re talking and sharing sweet tea, CSK’s
father – looking sprightly in his late 70s – rocks up on one of their
frames.

I’m not surprised to see CSK’s
unique red strawberry print bike in the fashion pages of Taiwanese Marie Claire
magazine.Another extraordinary frame
hanging in the shop has been painted by a local graffiti artist (“Don’t paint
my walls, paint my bike, I told him!”).And
larger than life CSK has earnt himself a reputation for being almost as
extraordinary as the frames he builds –
he’s currently planning a cycling tour for his entire family of the Great Wall
of China in 2013; his wife, his children, dad, the dog and not forgetting his
elderly mother; “I’m building a big bike trailer for her – she’s going to sit and
read the GPS for us and wave.When I’m
old I want my kids to take me outside and include me in life so I’ve got to
start as I mean to go ahead.Riding a
bike should be for the whole family!”

A few blocks away, two tiny
Taiwanese children are learning to ride their bicycles in the safety of the
gardens of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.This sprawling ceremonial complex was built to commemorate the life of
the former leader of Taiwan.The gardens offer a peaceful refuge from the relentless bustle of
Taipei’s busy streets and children play here in the shadow of the red roofed
National Theatre.The memorial itself is
a marble tower at the centre of the complex rising 89 steps – the age of the controversial politician at the time of his death – above the winding ornamental paths, ponds
and gardens that surround it.It’s the
perfect spot for testing out those training wheels, feeding the gold fish, flying
kites and turning great circles in the sweeping parade grounds set aside for
ceremonial events.

But it is all across the island,
and not just in the capital, that the bicycle is making a comeback in Taiwan. In
the mountainous centre of the island the 33km circular ride encompassing Sun
Moon Lake is almost too popular for its own good.There are family friendly sections along wide
traffic-free boardwalks skirting the shores of the lake, as well as more
challenging on-road sections full of climbs, hairpin bends and swooping
descents.

Weekend riders come from all
across the country to hire bikes here and enjoy the spectacular views, but in
order to really enjoy it you must make like the local roadies and get up early
to beat the traffic; especially the crocodiles of coaches packed with tourists
visiting from mainland China.

To me, the
Tourism Board’s PR is off message when it comes to Sun Moon Lake.It’s heavily promoted as a romantic, alpine
landscape but I found it to be visceral, dramatic and mysterious – and all the
more beautiful for it.Steam rises from
dense forests where indigenous people flourished for thousands of years, and
black butterflies the size of your fist fly alongside you as you climb.The silent respite of Xuanzang Buddhist
temple and its magnificent views are the reward for getting to the highest
point on the ride.Behind the temple the
deep, dark forest slopes away ever higher – I couldn’t help but think it would
be a great location for some really serious mountain bike trails.

A man who knows a thing or two
about mountain bikes – indeed, about most bikes ever built – is taking me on a
tour of his bicycle museum.Here’s a
very early Penny Farthing, there’s a prototype Brompton.Here’s a Schwinn beach cruiser from the 1950s,
whilst just around the corner are a selection of folding bikes which collapse
and corrugate in every way imaginable.

President of Pacific Cycles, George Lin, is my guide.He explains how Pacific (not to be confused
with the brand of the same name in America which churns out Walmart-destined
BSOs) were the first bicycle manufacturers to use computer aided design in the
1980s and pioneered a whole host of other high-end manufacturing techniques in
their quest to push bicycle technology forwards.From MuddyFox Mountain bikes to the Mando
Footloose e-bike (currently available in the UK at Harrods, no less) the company
turns out a wide range of different rides, as George explains whilst showing me
how to fold a CarryMe small wheeler; “By making our bicycles attractive we like
to think we’re helping to improve the cityscape.It’s one of our design principals; the bike should
work with the metro, easy to carry, to store, to fit in to your life and make
it better.”

I like George’s approach,
and his passion for all things two-wheeled is evident “Here we follow the “BMW”
concept – bicycle, metro, walking – we want people to know that these three
things can go hand in hand, and we’re excited about the way this can change the
market.”Suddenly distracted, George
leaps in to the seat of a bike especially designed for landmine victims in
former war zones.He takes great delight
in demonstrating the steering mechanism; you turn by shifting your bum in the bombproof
seat of the bike; fun and games in the safety of the Pacific Cycle Museum but
surely revolutionary in the field in the way it affects people’s lives.

The museum is a genuine cabinet of cycling
curiosities that would keep anyone with an interest in bikes entertained,
whilst in the factory next door Pacific turn out their latest designs.I’m beginning to get the impression that a
passion for riding bikes, as well as making them, underpins much of the
industry here.

In the week ahead I'll be exploring Taiwan's growing cycling culture in a number of blog posts; from my favourite Taipei bike trail, to the production lines of Taichung, and not forgetting a little bit of Taiwanese cycle chic. Join me as we explore this enigmatic island and ride out to meet the people who live and work there.

Hi Emma, you'll have a great time. Log in later in the week for my top tips for organising a bike tour in Taiwan.

As well as the public bike hire system in Taipei which I found works very well (You'll need a chip & pin credit card) all of the big towns and cities seem to have a Giant shop where you can hire (sometimes top of the range!) bikes, and they usually have English speaking staff. All of the popular bike trails like at Sun Moon Lake or the cross island path have a plethora of bike hire businesses to chose from. Good luck!

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